I’m sorry, but this spider is just objectively beautiful. The colourful chelicerae, the fluffy pedipalps, and those expressive, almost mournful eyes. It’s absolutely stunning.

Sure, it might be one of the few spiders in the world with human deaths to its name, but the fact that it let me get my lens within a few centimetres of its fangs in order to take this photo shows you that they clearly aren’t aggressive.

They might make you uncomfortable, but that’s not a reason to fear them, and the more you notice the spiders and other invertebrates around you, the more you’ll start to recognise the beauty in them.

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Wandering Spider (Phoneutria fera), Los Amigos Biological Station, Peru